My 1972 Guild Guitar
The Book of Love Has Music in It

The story of the life of my old Guild guitar in mosaic.

 In 2018, the husband of one of our chorus members, Richard Stanley, was looking at my mosaiced guitar, as it now hung in my basement studio where a bunch of us hung out after rehearsals. He kept saying he wanted to photograph it, and I kept saying sure, anytime, thinking iPhone. When I decided to repair the crack in my newer Martin guitar, I discovered that Richard is an accomplished luthier, who has a photo studio where he photographs the notable guitars he works on.  

 So, I finally repaired the beaded strings and Richard took these awesome photographs of it. He was quite excited about it as art and was eager for me to put them on my website (which I did not even aspire to back in 2018!) with annotations of each section. So here we are. Richard will be the first one to get a link to this section when it is finished. 

My old Guild guitar had seen me through so many important life and musical moments 1986-2006; I wanted to create this homage in mosaic to honor it. I bought this 1972 Guild on a whim in 1983 while wandering in Boston with my friend Joan Black- in a
Music in your Eyes- (lyrics are under the strings) I had fallen in love with the Garnet Rogers rendition of his brother Stan’s song.
UU Chalice on the (lower left) For many years, on and off, I used this guitar in the Arlington and Belmont Unitarian Universalist churches to perform and lead sing-alongs.
I bought this 1972 Guild on a whim in 1983 while wandering in Boston with my friend Joan Black- in a music store near Berklee School of music near Mass Ave. For $200. It was probably owned by a student(s), it was cracked on the lower edge from lack o
After learning to mosaic in 2010, I was inspired to apply glittery glass and pottery and various permutations of such to my old unplayable and unfixable Guild. It was still an early work; eleven years later in 2021 I would use different materials an
The Garden Labyrinth (upper right) represents the garden design in my own Arlington house that I chose for the suitable back yard and immediately dug and planted in 2003. The Cretan Labyrinth and G-clef, trees, rainbows and other doodles were my fr
My 1980's- divorced and seeking an independent identity: "She Rises Like the Dolphin", song by Kate Wolf Flamingo- my symbol of flamboyance and breaking free
Sunset from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. An annual ritual in the 1980-90s when ever we went camping.
Upper left edge- Arlington 1982 to Belmont 1992
Campfire in Blackwoods, Acadia, and the chorus of Stan Roger's song “Let the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!” This was very popular at the campfire sings when the girls were young.
Music to Contradance To- book cover and fiddle. I played guitar with Pat Carol Hayes on fiddle at the Arlington UU church.
"All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir" by Bill Staines. Fun sing-along with kids, complete with animal noises.
"Green Eyes" song by Kate Wolf. This song epitomized my idealized and sexualized (and unrealistic!) concept of romance in the 1980s.
"The Rainbow Connection" song “what’s so amazing, that keeps us stargazing?” We often sang this song of Sesame Street's Kermit the Frog in the Arlington UU days in the 1980s.
"Headbanging" song by (Amanda) Rose Gerber, my then young adult daughter. She sang this amazing song at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival right after a dramatic thunder storm stopped her act. “Always caught in bad weather” festival about 2003.
Falcon Ridge: My Red 1987 VW Westphalia Camper Van and Falcon Ridge Folk Festival button. I camped there usually by myself 1999-2005 when Hurricane knocked it out. G and I rediscovered 2013-2018, and hopefully again in 2022 post-pandemic.
Dragonfly- My adopted symbol of transformation and spiritual growth. Gorgeously retouched by Richard Stanley.
"Nobody’s Crying" song by Patty Griffin. “He’s off to slay some demon dragonfly,”- a sad breakup song about being addicted to a guy who’s all wrong. Been there.
"Are You Happy Now?" Richard Shindell’s humorous Halloween break-up song (I gave my ex the t-shirt), and the aspirational Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home to Me.”
“More Love, to flow in between us…” as a duet Lynn Read and I arranged- by Tim O’Brien and Gary Nicholson, and sung by the Chicks (formerly known as the Dixie Chicks); and Hazi Aldas- the Hungarian house blessing hung in every house in the Transylvan
"I Go Like the Raven" song by Dave Carter - “set my dancing feet to fly.”
"I Go Like the Raven" song by Dave Carter
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